The interruption of food exports caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spawned two concurrent resolutions on Capitol Hill proposing that cargo preferences reserving food aid for transport by the U.S. merchant fleet be suspended. The thinking is that in the current emergency, there should be no impediments to moving food aid overseas expeditiously. However, no such impediments actually exist: USAID has the latitude to waive cargo preference requirements for food aid if U.S.-flag ships are not available, or cost [ Read More…]

Seven years after the program was first awarded to Oshkosh Corporation, the contract for future production of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle is once again up for grabs. A recompete is being conducted, with the award tentatively scheduled for announcement on December 22. Incumbent Oshkosh has a good chance of winning, since it has delivered thousands of JLTVs on time and well below expected cost. Its vehicles are proving to be highly reliable and versatile, readily adaptable to a range [ Read More…]

The program that is supposed to achieve the U.S. military’s vision for seamless, real-time interoperability at the tactical edge is called the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) system. The problem for JADC2 and all its Service components is that the military currently operates dozens of communications systems using a variety of data formats, protocols, and frequencies. How will JADC2 will manage the requirement to flow information between separate Service-based command, control, and communications (C3) systems, or how will it manage to synthesize [ Read More…]

On May 12th, Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that Finland would officially apply to join NATO. Finland joining NATO is a tectonic shift in the strategic balance of the alliance’s eastern flank, because now Russia will share an 810-mile (1300-kilometer) border with NATO, already its most significant with a member of the European Union. This also means NATO would soon be in close proximity to the heavy concentration of the Russian military near Saint Petersburg. [ Read More…]

The number of warships in the U.S. naval fleet has not managed to get above 300 for two decades. Meanwhile, the country the Chief of Naval Operations describes as “our pacing threat,” China, is headed for 400 warships in its own fleet at mid-decade. The disparity is even worse than it seems, because Chinese forces are concentrated close to home, where Beijing also sustains a growing arsenal of long-range, antiship weapons. So what does the U.S. Navy propose to do? [ Read More…]

There are several reasons why the Baltic states are uniquely vulnerable to Russian invasion. The prime reason why they might be the Kremlin’s next target is that each of them, particularly Estonia and Latvia, has an ethnic Russian minority population. Moscow’s justification for prior invasions, including the ongoing one in Ukraine, is that ethnic Russians have to be “liberated” from oppressive non-Russian governments. However, geography plays a significant role in adding to the Baltics’ vulnerability. More so than Finland, which [ Read More…]

The staggering pollution from Russia’s pre-war, largely unregulated oil and natural gas industry is getting much worse. To offset this and drive significant environmental improvements in oil and natural gas production worldwide, it is essential to have dynamic, technologically innovative U.S. oil and natural gas companies. Central to a cleaner industry is the widespread adoption of data analytics which directly results in reduced methane and other emissions. Expanded use of data also reduces flaring and makes drilling more efficient, among [ Read More…]

May 5, 2022 Meeting Governors, thank you for the opportunity to address you. In an April 12th article in The Washington Post, when talking about the need for many types of capital investments at the U.S. Postal Service, Postmaster General DeJoy said, “I have 30-year-old IT. I have to spend a couple billion dollars to get my IT relevant.” The Lexington Institute applauds the Postmaster General’s candor and urges the Postal Service to prioritize overdue information technology investments. This may [ Read More…]

Most of the war coverage from Ukraine is about what’s happening on the ground, but eventually NATO will have to rethink other facets of its military preparations in light of Russia’s aggression. One area that needs a close look with regard to both Russia and China is whether America and its allies have an adequate fleet of maritime patrol aircraft–particularly for finding and defeating hostile submarines. The U.S. Navy has developed a state-of-the-art patrol plane called the P-8 Poseidon based [ Read More…]

The rush by some conservative Republicans to join Democrats in attacking Big Tech merits a rethink. Recent events show that we must assess the future of Big Tech in the context of what America’s adversaries are doing and the role tech companies have in economic growth. Simply put, Donald Trump’s hurt feelings over bans on Twitter and Facebook must not be the driving force for Republicans’ tech policies. Keeping China at bay, economically and militarily, and empowering Ukraine against Russia [ Read More…]